Police say body found in Colorado is hard to ID

Police examine a scene in an area of abandoned mines in Colorado where a body was found Wednesday evening. It's about 7 miles from the Westminster home of missing 10-year-old Jessica Ridgeway. (Photo: KUSA)

3:48PM EST October 11. 2012 - Police say a body found in an area a few miles from where 10-year-old Jessica Ridgeway went missing is "not intact" and that it will take authorities one more day to make a positive identification.

Update at 2:21 p.m. ET: Police say it has been difficult to identify the body found in an area of abandoned mines near Arvada because it is "not intact."

Westminster police spokesman Trevor Materasso says it will take authorities one more day to make a positive identification.

Update at 8:49 a.m. ET: Police said Thursday that they were not providing any new information on the body found Wednesday evening.

They declined to identify the body. They said that the canvassing of the area in search of missing 10-year-old Jessica Ridgeway would continue, and that new spaces in the search would be opened up.

Police have not released the gender or approximate age of the body.
Original post: Police searching in Colorado for missing 10-year-old Jessica Ridgeway have discovered a body in an area of abandoned mines, but have not indicated whether there is a connection with the fifth-grader who has been missing since she left home for school Friday, KUSA-TV reports.

The body was removed from Pattridge Park in Arvada, an area used on the weekends by road bikers and model airplane flyers.

It is about 7 miles southwest of Jessica's home in Westminster and several miles south of where Jessica's backpack was found in Superior, KUSA reports.

On Wednesday evening, Westminster police spokesman Trevor Materasso said, "We are unable to make a connection to the disappearance of Jessica Ridgeway," The Denver Post reports.

Jessica, a blond-haired girl who wears glasses, was last seen Friday morning as she left home on a short walk to school. Police said they believe she was abducted.

Police are now investigating whether Jessica's case might be related to that of an 11-year-old girl who was lured into an SUV in Cody, Wyo., by a man who released her four hours later. She was found by hunters, the Associated Press reports.